“I was heading up the road to your house to leave some food Kate made you with her thanks you went after the women. It was above and beyond.”
“That’s thoughtful. Thank you to Kate. But then you saw Whiskey out on the street?”
And in the seconds that followed, that same sensation of expansion into some righteous power filled Gabriel in the same way it had when Sloane was freaking out in Sommer’s garden, and this whole adventure began.
He pushed to his feet.
“Reaper, she has Whiskey because three of the missing agents were found.”
“That’s what I heard. There’s still one in the wind?”
“That’s why I’m at the office, sitting on hold, waiting for word. They found the agents, but not the kidnappers.” He didn’t want to say this; it was unfathomable to think. “Reaper, I was worried about Kate and the video. You were right about how simple it was to find Sommer’s house.”
“And yours?”
“My house is under the family trust. I use a P.O. Box to keep my address private. I don’t think they could find my house unless they’re running down my past addresses and staking them out. If they were trying to find me, they’d find her first.”
“Where are you going with this?” Reaper’s voice sharpened its edge.
“Two of the special agents, the last two that were captured, are witnesses in the same case where I’m scheduled to testify Tuesday. Without their testimony, and mine, I was told, the case is shaky. The defendant might just walk.”
“Sommer?”
“She wouldn’t let Whiskey out to wander at night, or ever. Not after what we went through, Whiskey, she, and I.Something’s wrong. And that worry you planted about her videos is taking up a lot of space in my imagination.”
“You asked her to take the videos down, though, right?”
“I did. But she’s been backpacking since our conversation. And you’re aware that we just got off the mountain. I was going to see all that through tomorrow.” Gabriel needed to take a beat. “Reaper, I’m stuck here with a life on the line. Since you’re there in the neighborhood, out of an abundance of caution, could you drive by and see if your danger radar pings?”
“It’s directly across from the church?”
“The only house on that stretch of road. But if someone’s in the house with her, you can’t let them know you’re there.”
“I’ll handle it. Give me a few, and I’ll be back on the line with you. Out.”
“Atworth. I’m back on the line.”
“Rowan. We haven’t heard anything back. We’re still holding.”
As Gabriel sat there, he tried to imagine scenarios other than that Sommer was with the Prokhorov thugs. It was a nice night. Maybe Sommer opened her door to let the air in and one of her cats knew how to get out the screen door. Maybe Whiskey followed. Maybe Sommer was in the woods desperately calling. Maybe her agitation was what Sloane felt zapping her twins’ antennae. And Sloane’s call had set his adrenaline flowing.
Did he think the crime family was scrolling social media for dog videos?
“I think that if they put your name in an AI search engine,” Gabriel told himself. “Daniel’s obituary will come up, your finding the children will come up, and the tags on the social media will come up.” He picked up his pen and tapped it nervously on his desk.
He desperately wanted Pensky to get on the damned line and tell him that he had assessed the location properly so he could get in his car and get to Sommer.
And yet, the minutes ticked.
Finally, he heard. “Pensky here. Atworth, the place checks out. You pinned it properly. It’s been abandoned. Our guy was here. They moved him on.”
“Do you have anything I can work with?” Gabriel asked.
“Nada. I’d go home and get some sleep. We’ll call if we get a new lead. Out.”
“Atworth here. I’m walking over to Joint Task Force. I have a situation I need to bring to your attention.”
“Prescott. We’ll be here. Out.”
